


Triage

by Shearmouth



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Cuddles, Derek Is So Done, Gen, Hurt Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Hurt/Comfort, Liam is a Good Friend, Medical Trauma, Minor Isaac Lahey/Scott McCall, Slight Canon Divergence, Theo is a recovering asshole, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-25 22:11:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18710680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shearmouth/pseuds/Shearmouth
Summary: An alternate ending to S6, E13 "After Images." That spear wound Scott received couldn't have healed that quickly, could it? Featuring magical injuries, Derek's loft, and some stressed out supernatural teenagers who could all really use a Xanax.





	Triage

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, everyone.This takes place in my slightly canon-divergent version of Teen Wolf, where Isaac returns to Beacon Hills after season 3, which I write about in "Transatlanticism." However, this story can be read as a stand-alone. Enjoy!

 

 

For the first time in what felt like days, Liam breathed.

The stench of fear and asphalt was still heavy in the air. The tangy, foul scents assaulted his senses, which were already shrieking with warning and overstimulation. Liam’s hands trembled. He clung tighter to Lori, who clung to Brett, who clung to consciousness with an impressive tenacity. Liam guessed sheer adrenaline would do that to you.

Cars roared by, mere feet away from where they sheltered on the shoulder of the road. They’d barely gotten away from the sewer entrance and off the highway without getting struck, Liam and Lori almost dragging Brett into the grass.

Fear sang in Liam’s blood. He scanned the side of the road, the trees, the cars, for any sign of the hunters. But he smelled nothing, and the hateful shriek of the honing beacons had silenced.

“I think…we might be okay,” Liam dared to say. “I don’t hear them.”

“Me neither,” Lori said, looking around. “I think they wanted us to get hit. For everyone to see.”

“And for one of us to shift,” Liam spat. “Assholes.”

A ragged cough cut his thoughts. Brett was trying to sit up, black fluid bubbling from his mouth.

“Hey, hey, take it easy, man,” Liam murmured, propping the taller boy against his shoulder. He rested his hand on Brett’s injured shoulder and drew out some of his pain.

“We’ve got to get him out of here,” Lori said. “Somewhere safe, where we can heal him.”

“Yeah.” Liam looked around for anything he recognized, but the night was jet dark and the road unfamiliar. He pulled out his phone, and realized with a lurch in his stomach that the screen was shattered.

“Either of you have phones?” Liam asked.

Lori pulled hers out and paled. “No service.”

Of course. Leave it to bad cell reception to be the thing that finally killed them.

Liam swore. “We have to howl.”

“They’ll hear us!”

“If we stay here, we’re screwed,” Liam said. “Brett’s going to die or the hunters will come back. Lydia will hear us.”

“She won’t get here in time.”

“We have no choice.” Liam took a deep breath and gathered himself to howl.

“ _Liam!”_

Liam froze, and whirled toward the highway. “Malia!”

Malia was sticking her head out of the manhole. A break in traffic had come, and she rose out slowly. Scott was slumped against her side.

_Oh, God._

Liam didn’t even look. He sprinted across the highway to where Malia was awkwardly maneuvering Scott out of the sewer.

Liam draped Scott’s dead weight over his shoulders and lifted him out. Malia followed, pulling Scott’s other arm over her. Liam’s stomach dropped further as he took in his alpha. Scott was pale and sweaty, his eyes fluttering. A bad smell hung around him, and black-tinted blood soaked the front of his shirt.

“I think that spear was poisoned too,” Malia snarled. They started crossing the highway to Lori and Brett. “Something different. But he’s not healing. He passed out right before the ladder. He was running to you.”

 _Shit._ “We’ve got to get him and Brett out of here. I’m gonna howl.”

“No!” Malia snapped. “That’ll draw them right to us!”

“We have to!”

Headlights bore down on them. Liam desperately pulled for the shoulder.

Tired screeched on asphalt. A large blue truck swerved onto the shoulder and jerked to a halt.

“Shit!” snarled Malia, pushing Scott behind her.

Liam pulled Scott against and behind him. _They were waiting._ He flicked out his claws, not caring if anyone saw. They were all about to die anyway. Anger clouded out his fear. How dare they. How dare these hunters try to hurt his pack.

Liam snarled, teeth crowding his mouth.

The driver’s side door opened. Liam felt his eyes glow.

Theo Raeken climbed out.

 “Oh, you gotta be shitting me,” Malia deadpanned. Liam stared.

“Liam?” Theo asked, approaching them, suspicion and confusion on his face. “Malia?”  Liam registered distantly that Theo didn’t look all that great either. The chimera was gaunt and scruffy, and dried blood flecked his clothing, which looked like it hadn’t been washed in a while.

Liam didn’t care. As much as he sometimes hated the guy, he couldn’t have been happier to see him. Still, Liam didn’t shift from where Scott was pressed against his back.

Theo didn’t say anything. He approached them, and Liam felt Malia tense.

She hadn’t forgotten. Neither had he.

But Theo had saved his ass quite a few times when the Ghost Riders were in town. And Liam was hardly one to not give someone a second chance.

Theo touched Scott’s shoulder and hissed quietly. “Poison?”

“Yeah. Brett, too,” Liam said, flicking his chin toward where Lori knelt over Brett.

Theo nodded. “Let me have him. Go help her get him into the back.” He went to pick up Scott.

Liam hesitated. Theo paused, and looked up to meet his gaze.

There was a wild look in Theo’s eyes. A hunted look. All traces of the greed that had infected him for so long before his own personal hell were gone, replaced by a guarded loss and a quiet fear.

It had been months since the Ghost Riders. Months since Theo had vanished into the night right after. Liam wondered how long he’d been running, and why he hadn’t seemed to get very far.

“You know I’m not gonna hurt him,” Theo said softly. “Not again.”

Liam nodded. “And you know what I’ll do if you do.”

Theo met his eyes unflinchingly. “Yes.”

Liam shifted Scott’s weight off him. Malia looked distrustful, but moved away so Theo could lift Scott into a bridal carry. A tortured moan escaped Scott as he did. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth, and Liam could feel the life force seeping out of him. The same way, when Scott died, he’d felt it. He’d been too overcome with grief over Hayden’s death at the time, but looking back on it, he realized that he could feel the moment Scott died– like a bone of Liam’s soul had snapped when Theo ripped Scott’s life force out of him.

Theo, who was holding Liam’s unconscious alpha now, and opening the door to the backseat. Scott moaned again.

“Help them,” Theo barked. “We gotta go.”

Together, Malia and Liam hoisted Brett up, and Lori helped them get him to the truck. They pulled the tailgate down, and Liam managed to lift Brett up to where the girls could pull him up into the flatbed. Lori cradled her brother against her chest. Brett’s eyes had slid shut.

“Malia, stay with them back here,” Liam said. Malia caught his wrist.

“You watch him, Liam,” Malia hissed. “I still don’t trust him. Pretty convenient that he just showed up here in the middle of all this.”

“I know,” Liam replied. The thought had crossed his mind. “But right now he’s all we’ve got.”

Malia glared into the cab. “I know.”

Liam clambered out and crossed to the cab. Theo had laid Scott down in the backseat. Liam bit his tongue in fear. Scott had somehow gotten paler, and black lines snaked under the skin of his neck. Liam climbed in and pulled his alpha up carefully against his chest, cradling Scott’s head against his shoulder. He started to draw out Scott’s pain.

“Theo,” Liam snarled as the cold fire of the poison began to seep into his hands. “Drive.”

The engine roared as Theo gunned the truck onto the highway.

Liam tipped his back against the window. The glass was cold on the back of his head, muffled but soothing through his hair. He suddenly and ferociously wished that Isaac and Stiles were here. He understood why they’d left early, Stiles for Quantico and Isaac for MICA, but it seemed like everything had started to go wrong as soon as the pack had begun to split up.

Granted, they were both going to kill him as soon as they heard about this. Isaac probably already knew something was wrong, either by beta bond or lover’s instinct. Liam hoped he wasn’t freaking out on the other side of the country.

In his arms, Scott shifted and coughed. More bloody blackness spilled over his bottom lip, and Liam sank desperately into his pain, trying to loosen the stress on Scott’s already failing body. He snarled and pressed his head against the back of the door.

“Focus, Liam,” Theo called. “Hang in there. I’m taking you all to the clinic.”

“Not there,” Liam gasped out. “It’s not safe. Not against hunters.”

“Then where?” Headlights caught against Theo’s eyes in the rearview, and Liam was shocked to see a trace of yellow in them. He tuned in, and was stunned detected the reek of stress on the chimera’s scent. Theo was scared.

“Downtown,” Liam managed. “Derek Hale’s place.”

“Hasn’t he been gone for months?”

“We know the way in. And it’s fully stocked. It’s safer.”

“Why not just call Scott’s mom?”

Liam shifted to lean more against the door. Scott’s pain was nauseating him, and it scared him to think that he was only feeling a fraction of it. “It’s too dangerous to take him to the hospital, and he’d kill us if we got her involved.”

Suddenly Scott tensed and cried out, twisting and thrashing against Liam. His pain redoubled, and Liam yelled in pain as he tried to hold Scott down.

“Liam?” Theo yelled.

“He’s having some sort of seizure, I don’t know!” Liam couldn’t focus. Scott was shaking violently. His eyes were fluttering, but when they were open Liam could only see the whites. It felt like someone had poured magma into Scott’s chest, and the pain was spreading. Liam’s vision started to fuzz and blacken at the edges.

A strong hand clamped around his wrist, and suddenly the pain halved. Liam blinked in confusion and saw the cords of muscle in Theo’s neck were taut as black lines ran up his arm from where his hand circled Liam’s wrist. The other hand was still on the wheel.

“Hold him,” Theo said through gritted teeth. “He’ll choke on his own blood if you don’t keep him upright.”

Liam clamped his leg around Scott’s waist and bracketed his chest with his other arm. Gradually Scott stilled, but Liam could feel him fading. It was almost enough to distract him from his confusion– Theo had just pulled his pain.

Lights grew in the dark around them, and Liam felt them slowing down some as they came into the city. The blur of buildings became familiar.

When they got to the loft building, Theo pulled into the alley beside it and hurled the truck into park.

“Get the place open,” Theo said as he came around to the backseat. “I’ll get him and the others.”

Liam didn’t have to be told twice. He laid Scott’s chest against Theo’s waiting arms and sprinted for the back stairs to the loft.

The building always looked old. Derek kept it that way on purpose. When Liam reached the top of the landing, he skimmed his hand under the mildewed railing until he felt the code box. He clicked in the numbers, and the hidden door in the steel slid open.

And Liam found himself staring down the muzzle of a huge handgun.

 “Uh…” he couldn’t see into the dark, just the streetlight shine on the metal, and he had a brief moment of total acceptance that he was about to die for real.

Then two ice-blue eyes flared, and the scent of pine and gunpowder wafted over him.

“Liam?” The gun went down, and Derek stepped out of the shadows. There was a new scar at his throat, and he looked tired. “What–“

Then Derek’s eyes tracked down to the blood soaking Liam’s hoodie, and his nostrils flared. He looked up at Liam, and Liam saw raw fear in his eyes. “Where is he?”

Footsteps came pounding up the walkway. Lori and Malia appeared suspending a fully unconscious Brett between them, and behind them came Theo carrying Scott. Shock fouled the air between Liam and Derek, but it lasted for only a second, replaced by a militant intent.

“Put them both on the couches in front of the TV,” Derek said, yanking the door fully open and turning on the inside lights. “What are they poisoned with?”

“Brett’s with wolfsbane,” Malia said as she and Lori hauled the taller werewolf over the threshold. “And he got shot.”

“Nine Herbs in the medicine cabinet, Malia, you know what to do,” Derek said. “And Scott?”

Theo maneuvered the two of them through the door and into the loft.

“I don’t know,” Liam said. “He got speared in Argent’s tunnels with a tripwire. He seemed okay at first, he was conscious, but once we got out of the tunnels he passed out. He had a seizure on the way over here.”

“I think I know what it is,” Theo said. He laid Scott gently on one of the couches, and Liam propped pillows up behind his head. “I felt it when I took his pain through you, Liam. There’s a piece of that thing stuck inside him. It must’ve broken off the spear.”

Derek’s eyes flared on and he scanned Scott’s injury. “He’s right. I can see it.” Derek leaned close and sniffed the wound. He snarled.

“Silver,” he spat. “You can’t make a bullet out of it, but spears work. There’s a piece in there, and it’s poisoning him. The problem is, his body has already tried to heal itself around it. This is going to be a bitch to take out.”

“What– what do we do?” Liam asked.

“We’ll have to cut it out. After that his body should heal,” Derek said. He picked Scott up and carried him across the loft to the large wooden table that served as dining space, planning board, and occasionally, surgical theatre. Derek cleared the slightly cluttered surface with one broad sweep of his arm and laid Scott gently down on top of it.

“He doesn’t have much time,” Theo said. He rolled up his sleeve. “Liam, hold him down. I’m going to cut it out.”

“Wait, why you?” Liam countered.

Theo flicked out his claws. “I can still produce enough kanima venom to paralyze the area around the wound. It’ll heal slower, but bleed less. And his body won’t fight me as much.”

Liam felt his eyes flare. He leaned across toward Theo so he was right in his face.

“If you try _anything,_ I’ll put you through the fucking floor,” Liam snarled. “I won’t need Kira’s sword to send you back to hell. You won’t have time to blink.” Liam was vaguely aware of Derek going still at the end of the table, watching the exchange silently.

“I know you will,” Theo said. “Just like I know there’s nothing I can promise you that will make you believe that I don’t want him to die. But I’m gonna help him. You gonna help me?”

Liam glared into Theo’s eyes, but he found no lie there, and his heart was fast, but steady.

Liam braced himself against Scott’s collarbones and pinned his arms down. “Do it.”

Derek grasped Scott’s ankles, and Theo shifted so he was leaning over Scott’s chest. He cut through the last of Scott’s shredded shirt with one strike and exposed the hideous wound. It was as wide as Liam’s hand and jet black and seeping.

Theo breathed out once, and raised his right hand. His claws gleamed with clear fluid. Then he reached down and sliced into the wound.

Even unconscious, Scott felt it. He howled and arched off the table with a strength that shocked Liam, and he pinned him down with almost all his force.

“Keep him still, damn it!” Theo barked. He dug deeper, and Scott writhed under the Liam’s hands, heaving for breath and crying out.

“I almost have it.” Theo was wrist deep now, and Liam’s gorge rose.

“Got it!” Liam withdrew his hand. Silver gleamed in his fingers, and at that moment, Scott’s eyes snapped open.

Maybe it was the pain. Maybe an old instinct from the last time Theo was kneeling over him with his hand bloody. But whatever prompted it, Scott surged off the table with an animal roar. His fangs gleamed with his own blood, his claws were long and sharp, and his eyes were red and so full of rage that Liam could find no trace of the gentle teenager he knew.

Before Liam or Derek could stop him, Scott lunged from the table and collided with Theo, his hands clamping around the chimera’s throat.

The two rolled and grappled until they slammed into the wall of the loft. Scott started choking Theo against the wall.

Liam lunged forward, but Derek grabbed him. “Don’t! He’ll try to kill you too–“

“Scott! Scott, stop!” Liam cried.

Theo struggled weakly in Scott’s grip. “Scott,” he gasped. “Please…”

Scott snarled, and lifted his other clawed hand. He slashed down, and Theo managed to dodge back just enough to keep Scott from severing his carotid. Blood bloomed and ran down Theo’s neck and shoulder from the long claw-cuts. Scott slammed Theo’s head against the wall, then pinned him harder. Theo’s limbs went still, but he lifted pleading eyes up to Scott. Scott, who Liam couldn’t recognize behind the animal rage that twisted his face. He lifted his hand again, and Theo closed his eyes.

Liam realized he was very possibly about to watch Scott kill Theo, and despite everything, he couldn’t let that happen. He ripped free of Derek and was about to leap in when Scott suddenly froze. Looking at the alpha, his mouth sharp and bloody, Liam suddenly remembered what they all were. Monsters. Werewolves. Dangerous when damaged.

A deep shudder rocked Scott’s frame. He shook his head and blinked rapidly, slumping some. The red faded from his eyes, and his face shifted to human.

Scott’s knees buckled. Theo caught him, and they both slid awkwardly to the floor, Scott going completely boneless. Liam rushed forward and stabilized them both as Theo coughed raggedly.

“Jesus,” Malia said. Liam glanced up, and realized she and Lori were watching from the couches in horror. Brett lay unconscious, the herbs packed around his wounds steaming gently.

Theo heaved for air. Liam grabbed his shoulder and leaned him against the wall as Derek knelt and lifted Scott from the floor.

“You ok?” Liam asked. Theo nodded, his face pale. The bloody slashes oozed on his neck. “He didn’t know– I don’t think he meant to–“

“Liam, it’s okay,” Theo cut him off, voice raspy. “I would’ve done the same.”

“Come on,” Liam said, pulling Theo up. The chimera swayed, but steadied.

“Guys,” Derek called, from where he stood over Scott who lay unconscious on the table. “He’s healing now, but really slowly. He’s going to be out for at least a couple of hours.”

“He’ll be okay?” Liam asked. He rested his fingers on Scott’s wrist, feeling the fast, strong pulse there and taking solace in it. He leaned against the table, utterly exhausted. Pulling pain was tiring by itself, but doing it after running from hunters through miles of tunnels and almost getting run over on the highway? Liam felt wrung out to his soul.

“Yeah,” Derek said. “He’ll be fine. He’s been through worse than this.”  

Beside Liam, Theo cringed. Liam glanced up curiously, but Theo had straightened, and his face was a mask, albeit a tired, bloody one. Purple bruises lined his throat alongside the cuts.

“Theo, get some warm water from the kitchen. Liam, you know where the medical cabinet is, yeah? Get some gauze and tape, and the sewing kit.”

“I thought you said he was healing,” Theo said.

“I said he was healing slowly,” Derek replied. “It’s going to take a day at least, and between now and then I don’t need him bleeding all over the place every time he moves. Go.”

Theo turned and walked off, and Liam crossed the loft to the large closet against the far wall. Deaton had set it up after Isaac came back. It was stocked with conventional and supernatural medicine, and the dark wood door was decorated with sigils. Liam sifted through the carefully labeled bins and bags of fragrant herbs and sterile supplies, and he was struck suddenly by how quickly the two lives they all led were converging. Werewolves were always caught between two worlds, and until now, Scott’s pack had been able to keep those worlds carefully divided. Coexistent, but separate, just like the medicine Liam was rifling through. Now everything was colliding, too fast for Liam to process, and he was afraid.

He retrieved the supplies he needed, closed the door with his foot, and moved back toward where Scott lay still and silent on the table.

He paused by where Lori and Malia were tending to Brett. Brett was still unconscious, but he looked less pale, and his chest rose and fell steadily.

“How is he?” Liam asked.

“Stable,” Lori answered. “And healing. He’s going to be ok.” Her voice wavered, and Liam rested his hand gently on her shoulder.

“And Scott?” Malia asked.

“He’ll be okay too.” Liam glanced over to his alpha, and wished he felt more confident in the words.

_We’re all going to be okay._

When he got back to the table, he saw that Derek was cleaning off Scott’s chest with a towel he had dipped into a bowl filled with steaming water that was tinted purple. Liam sniffed it, and the scent instantly relaxed him.

“Reishi,” Derek explained. “Helps drive out poison.”

Liam dipped a wad of gauze into the water and began to help Derek. He glanced over at Theo, who was strangely still and quiet. The other boy was leaning against the table, his head lowered. Liam looked down, and realized that both of Theo’s hands were resting on Scott’s arm. Lines of pain ran up his forearms.

“Liam,” Derek said, before Liam could get bogged down in all the layers of Theo fucking Raeken trying to help Scott. “The sewing kit.”

“Right.” Liam threaded a needle and handed it to Derek. The next few minutes were silent, as Derek stitched the wound and Liam helped him cover it with gauze and medical tape. Then Derek retrieved a hoodie from his room and zipped Scott into it. When they were done, the whole situation seemed a lot more manageable, and as the adrenaline faded, Liam’s strength began to fail him.

            “That’s all we can do for now. He just needs rest,” Derek said. He looked at Liam, then to Theo, who had taken his hands from Scott but was still leaning against the table and slumped in fatigue. “Actually, you all do. Come on.”

Derek herded them over to the couch colony in front of the TV and started pulling out blankets, and Liam thought about the night Isaac came back two years before, barely alive. They’d all slept in a pile then, Scott curled into Isaac, Stiles snoring on his back, and Liam awake in the darkness with only his racing thoughts for company. He’d been so much younger then, it seemed. Back then everything scared him– the hunters, the monsters, himself. Now he was only scared of losing the people he had left.

As he passed by the couches to get more blankets from the closet, a hand weakly grabbed Liam’s wrist. He turned, and saw with surprise that Brett was awake. His wounds were sealing gradually, and he looked better, but a deep fatigue lined his face.

“Liam,” he croaked. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Liam replied. He patted the back of Brett’s hand gently, and turned to leave, but Brett didn’t let go.

“No,” Brett whispered. “Thank you. I was so scared.”

Liam was stunned. He had never heard of Brett being scared. He knew the list of things that rattled him was pretty damn short.

Liam turned his hand and gently clasped it around Brett’s wrist. “You’re welcome,” he replied, softly and sincerely. Brett smiled faintly. He released Liam.

What a strange world it was.

After they made as many beds as they could, Derek carried Scott over to the couches and laid him down gently. Liam pulled a blanket over Scott.

“Stay close to him,” Derek said. “Watch for anything strange– if there’s a change in breathing, if he’s in pain, anything, come get me.”

“Where are you going?” Liam asked.

Derek looked to the windows, which were all covered with blackout curtains, and Liam saw his jaw set. “To guard the door. My security’s good, but if it’s Gerard we’re dealing with, I need to be sure.” Derek pulled on a heavy jacket and stuck a handgun in his waistband.

“I’m coming with you,” Malia said, rising from the couch. “I’m too wired to sleep anyway.” Derek paused, then nodded. Together the two of them left out the back door.

The loft was silent. Liam realized that Lori and Brett had both fallen asleep curled against each other. Liam draped a blanket over both of them as gently as he could. Lori stirred, but didn’t wake.

Liam straightened, and swayed. God, he was tired. He looked up, and saw that Theo was still leaning against the table. A low shudder ran through Theo’s frame.

“Theo?” Liam gripped his bicep, and the chimera lifted his head wearily. “You ok?”

After a pause, Theo nodded. He moved away from the table, and his legs went out from under him.

“Shit!” Liam caught Theo and kept him from hitting the floor.

“Sorry,” Theo muttered.

“What the hell?” Liam looked to find Theo’s face was bone white. “Are you not healing or something?”  

“No, no,” Theo said, straightening slowly. “Just– took a little too much pain. I’m fine.”

Liam kept his grip on Theo’s upper arm and began steering him toward the couches.

“Yeah, no, we are both going to sleep.”

“I’m fine, I said.” Theo tried to push him away, but Liam held fast.

“Shut up, asshole. Come on.”

Theo shut up. Liam maneuvered him to the last unoccupied couch, and Theo wavered. Liam nudged him, and Theo almost fell onto the cushions.

Suddenly the last dregs of Liam’s strength failed him. He sat down hard next to Theo and fell back against the couch with a sigh. He was tired to his bones. He blinked blearily, and looked over to see Theo slumped down, a hand pressed over the slashes in his neck. He was tense, his eyes closed, and his frame trembled minutely.

Liam reached out, rested his hand on the back of Theo’s neck, and began to draw out the pain. Theo immediately relaxed, then tried to shrug away. “Don’t.”

“Jesus, Theo, just shut up,” Liam said, no heat in his words. After a moment, Theo relaxed into his touch. They were silent for a time, as the pain in Theo’s neck faded and his wounds began to close slowly. Liam kept his hand on Theo but leaned back against the couch. He closed his eyes.

He’d had no intention of dozing off, but the next thing he knew he was being guided gently onto his back, his head onto a pillow. A warm weight settled on his body as someone pulled a blanket over him. Liam stirred, and sensed Theo above him, felt the strength of his hands as Theo untied and pull off Liam’s shoes.

“What…?” Liam shifted, lifting his head.

“Chill out, Dunbar,” Theo murmured. He pulled the end of the blanket over Liam’s now-bare feet. “I’ll watch the door.”

“Why would you do that?” Liam said, but his words were heatless. He was too tired. “It’s not like you care.”

Liam’s eyes were still closed, but he could smell with undeniable clarity the way Theo’s scent shifted. It was suddenly awash with shame. Liam frowned, startled and confused.

“I didn’t lie about everything, Liam.” Theo’s voice was soft.

Before Liam could reply, Theo’s scent changed again. The heady tang of fur came to Liam, and he heard the soft swish of clothes falling to the floor, the click of claws on hardwood.

Too tired. Liam was too tired to decipher it. The last things he registered before sleep took him were Brett and Lori’s soft breathing in the darkness, and the quiet, muffled thud of a canine body settling as Theo lay down near the door.

           

           

 

 

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